All Entries Tagged With: "crash tests"

2011 F150 Scores Only 3 Stars In Government Safety Tests

Last week we published a comprehensive table of 2011 pickup truck crash test ratings, and today we’ve got updated crash test results from the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) website detailing the crash test results of the Ford F-150.

NHTSA government crash tests gave the 2011 Ford F-150 three stars in frontal crash tests. Click to see the full details.

While the 2011 F150 scored an overall crash test rating of 4 stars, the F-150 only scored 3 stars in frontal impacts, making it the second worst truck in terms of frontal impact safety among products for Chevy/GMC, Toyota, and Ram. Only the Ram 1500 scored worse – a paltry 2 stars. Fortunately for Ford, their strong performance in IIHS crash test studies seems to indicate that, overall, the F150 is comparably safe to the Tundra as well as trucks for Chevy and GMC.

Ford's 2011 F-150 crash test results rate it behind both the Tundra and the Chevy/GMC 1500 pickups.

Still, technically speaking, the F150 did not perform as well as the Tundra in the NHTSA tests the F150 had a lower front impact score, but as noted by Tim in the comments, the F150 did slightly better than the Tundra in a couple of ways (albeit small ways)…so the performance is likely closer to “equal” between the Tundra and the F150 than it is towards the Tundra.

2011 Tundra Gets 4 Star Overall Crash Test Rating, Tied For First In Segment

Last updated 3-17-2011

NHTSA has released their crash test ratings for many of the 2011 half-tons on the market – here’s a summary of the ratings.

So far, it looks like the 2011 Tundra is the safest half-ton on the market, with only the narrowest lead over the GM trucks as a result of the Tundra’s superior IIHS test results. The F150 and Ram come in to third and fourth place respectively (the Nissan Titan has not been rated by NHTSA, so it’s not included in our comparison).

WTF NHTSA? Toyota Tundra Crash Test Results Shenanigans

When the 2nd generation Toyota Tundra debuted in 2007, Toyota was quite confident that the Tundra would be the safest pickup in it’s class. With standard ESC, side airbags, and Toyota’s latest and greatest crash test technology, Toyota had every reason to be confident.

Then NHTSA’s results (that’s National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration) came out. 4 stars. Toyota was devastated.

Time passed and the IIHS (that’s Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) issued their first ever Top-Pick rating to a pickup when they declared the 2007 Tundra to be the safest truck in it’s class.

IIHS crash test of 2007 Toyota Tundra

NHTSA said 4 stars, IIHS said top pick – and anyone shopping for a Tundra was (understandably) confused.

However, yesterday NHTSA released the results of a “re-test” of the 2010 Tundra and guess what – it got 5 stars. Great news right? Except the structure of the 2010 TUNDRA DIDN’T CHANGE!